Paul’s Review of Spectral

This sci-fi movie opens with a lone soldier tracking an enemy in a war-torn city. The soldier doesn’t wait for back up when he is suddenly attacked by an invisible assailant that kills him instantly. The invisible enemy can only be seen on specialist military eyewear that was developed at the DARPA military research facility. Suspecting that the goggles are faulty the movie then focuses on the government engineer who developed it, Dr. Mark Clyne (James Badge Dale), as he is sent out to Moldova to see if he can find the fault with his equipment.

The movie is sadly only available on pay TV and is the directing debut for Nic Mathieu who does a good job. The storyline is nothing that hasn’t been done before but the movie did keep me interested for its almost two-hour entirety as there were lots of good action sequences. The science used also quotes some real-world experiments, with a movie twist of course, but I will not give away any spoilers. The acting was good overall if a little bit clichéd in parts and I was particularly impressed with the special effects considering this was not a big budget box office spectacular.